COMING HOME

Chapter 17

~~The blessings of the Lord makes one rich and He adds no sorrow with it.
                     Proverbs 10:22(NKJV)~~

Her eyes opened halfway and she found herself staring into the bright small eyes of several children. As soon as she opened them completely, the smallest shouted and they ran off to their respective hiding places.

'Mama!' Tobi's eyes threatened to close with the weight of sleep still hovering round her but she forced them to open blinking severally before sitting up. Curiosity winning the contest with sleep.

A woman turned to face her. Her face lit up as she hurried with aluminum utensils that slapped against each other making Tobi's ears tingle.

'Hello, food for you.' The woman said directing her fingers to her mouth severally.

Tobi sat up and leaned against the wall. 'Thank you.'

'Oh!' She smiled and sat on the bed with Tobi. 'I'm sorry, I thought you were still sleepy. When you woke up before you mumbled some things nobody could understand then you slept off again. How are you feeling?' The woman's small palm rose to touch her forehead with a warm napkin.

Could this be real? The woman on the bed with her didn't look like she'd know two sentences in the English vocabulary but here she was speaking good English. She wasn't pretty, her face had obviously succumbed to the hard life of struggling and burdensome work her slender body frame didn't look like it could carry. She was wearing the typical Ankara of long free gowns with a different material as head tie. Her nails were short but had taken the permanent brown colour from years of farming. No part of this woman was soft. She touched Tobi's forehead again but this time without the napkin. Hard and calloused palm rubbed against her.

'I was tired.' Tobi said shifting to the farthest end of the bed and away from the reach of the woman.

'I know. My name is Mrs Adebayo. My husband found you yesterday night on the road. He brought you home and I've been looking after you.'

Tobi's lowered her eyelids until they were almost closing. 'Thank you but...'

The woman smiled and got up. 'I know this is strange to you, me speaking proper English and checking your temperature.' She walked back to the table and returned with a cup of water and some drugs. 'I'm a doctor. I know you might find that hard to believe but I am. Studied Medicine for six years at the University of Lagos.'

'So what are you doing in a place like this?'

Her laughter was light but conveyed a sweet harmony of sounds. 'I'm always asked that. Missionary. I, my husband and children moved here years ago when God told us to move here. Since then, we've been trying to build this place.'

'I didn't see much progress on my way here.'

She chins raised. 'We came here only eight years ago. Much have changed. We now have a small clinic, other villages come here for treatment. You didn't see much because you were coming from the wrong side. You were on the road to the stream.'

Tobi watched the woman closely as she arranged the drugs and shifted the plates to where she was.

'Aspirins. I made yam and oil, I don't know if you've eaten it before but it's nice. Roasted yam and the oil has big chunks of onions that'd be good for you.' The woman said waiting to see Tobi's reaction.

She'd never eaten yam and oil before but she'd heard of the famous roasted yam and didn't consider eating it talk less of with oil. She couldn't also reject the food. Apart from the woman's direct gaze, her stomach rumbled and with time if she didn't eat something, her intestines will eat themselves.